Introduction

Unless otherwise stated, the content made available on our webpages is © copyright of Somerset Council. This information is made available for re-use under the terms of the Open Government Licence for public sector information. Provided you accept the terms of this licence, it is not necessary to ask permission to re-use this information.

Our information

Information which we provide to the public in response to an information request under the Freedom Of Information Act or Environmental Information Regulations will generally be available for re-use under the same Open Government Licence terms.

However, this is not the case when we provide access to information which is not produced by us and is copyright © of another (external) party. While the Freedom of Information Act or the Environmental Information Regulations may oblige us to provide public access to such information, you should refer to the copyright holder to establish the terms and conditions for its re-use.

When providing public access to externally copyrighted material the identity of that copyright holder should be clearly marked. Any questions about re-use of such material would need to be directed to the copyright holder.

Requesting the re-use of our information

Unless someone else holds the copyright to it, you do not need to request re-use of information which we have already made available to the public (provided you accept the terms of the Open Government Licence). If you are unsure about who holds the copyright for information we have provided you may request clarification of this from our information request team: informationrequest@somerset.gov.uk

You may also contact the information request team to request re-use of information you believe that we hold but which is not yet available to you. In this case you need to provide us with the following information:

• your name and address for correspondence
• the document(s) you require
• the purpose for which the document will be used

If the information is already readily available to the public, we will advise you about where and how it can be accessed.

If the information is not readily available to the public, we will first process your request as a request for access, according to our obligations under the Freedom of Information Act or the Environmental Information Regulations. Where relevant exemptions apply to disclosure of the information requested, then we are not obliged to provide it to you. In this case, your request for re-use of that information will be refused.

If no relevant exemptions apply, we will provide you with the information and confirm the terms and conditions for its re-use.

If you have a complaint about the way we have handled your request for re-use of our information you may contact the Information Governance team: informationgovernance@somerset.gov.uk